


Surprises

by DrusillaStanden



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Reference to Ep 26
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-28 07:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16719345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrusillaStanden/pseuds/DrusillaStanden
Summary: This is a future fic based on a discussion with a friend. The Mighty Nein meet back up with Kiri when she's grown. It started off as a little fluff but it might be gathering a story... stay tuned.





	1. Surprises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [carocactus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/carocactus/gifts).



Jester and Beau had been on patrol for a good hour and although Beau was hardly expecting any trouble in this deserted stretch, far from the road and from any habitation, she’d emphasised the need for constant vigilance. Anything to stop another rendition of the story of _Horn Romance_ – the terribly written and titled sequel to _Tusk Love._ If she had to hear another word about Guinevere and Oscar’s perfect son, Tebor, and his Tiefling bride, Shailene, she was going to punch someone. Possibly punch everyone. 

It came as a surprise then when the relative silence of the night was broken by the unmistakeable howl of gnolls and the sound of bodies and trees coming into hurried contact when they were near the end of their patrol circuit. They were quite far from the camp and they both hesitated on a plan of action for a second.

‘Should we go back, Beau? We should wake up the others.’

Beau was aching to get into the fight, she hadn’t punched anyone in days… but she and Fjord had been doing so well on the impulse control thing (if you didn’t count his propensity to shag anything evil and female within a 10 mile radius…) She was about to somewhat reluctantly nod her consent when she heard Jester’s voice coming loudly from about 30ft away.

‘Go fuck yourself!’

She spun round. Jester was still right next to her.

‘Jess, are you using thaumaturgy?’

‘No.’

‘KIRI!’ they both shouted at the same time and without another thought started running forward.

The scene that met their eyes wasn’t quite what they expected. They hadn’t really thought about it but neither of them had imagined Kiri as anything but the little bird she’d been last time they saw her, leaving them for a new family on the edges of Zadash. A few years had gone by and Kiri had really grown up. She was a good six feet tall now and the idea that even Jester could pick her up with ease was laughable.

As they burst into the clearing, their eyes took in the sight of a dead gnoll on the ground, one running off into the trees and one engaged with Kiri. Kiri herself was like a whirlwind. One hand held a crossbow, the other a short sword and before they had time to get anywhere near the fight, she’d loosed an arrow into the fleeing gnoll and was bringing her short sword up in a wide swing towards the neck of the other. It lunged forward to attack…right into her blade and with a sweeping movement of her sword she decapitated him. ‘Go fuck yourself,’ she repeated as he fell before prodding him with her sword and ruffling her feathers in satisfaction.

‘Kiri!’ called Jester.

Kiri turned, sword dripping, looked Jester in the face and said joyfully, ‘I am very sweet!’

‘You are very sweet!’ said Jester.

‘You are fucking badass!’ said Beau. Going forward and offering her a high five. Kiri headbutted her palm – she _still_ hadn’t worked out how high fives worked.

‘Fucking badass,’ said Kiri, holding up her sword in one hand and her bow in the other.

Jester ran forward and threw her arms around Kiri. ‘But what are you doing here, Kiri? Where are your family?’

‘Welcome to the Mighty Nein!’

‘Yes, yes, you are one of the Mighty Nein but what happened to (Beau what were there names? It doesn't matter) the butchers from Zadash. You weren’t happy?’

‘Happy. You’re all grown up now, Kiri,’ she said the last part in the voice Jester and Beau vaguely recognised as that of her found father.

‘So you’re a grown up now?’ said Beau. ‘Bad ass.’

‘Bad ass,’ said Kiri.

‘Kiri, what do you do now? Here, write it down.’

Kiri took the book. ‘I’m an adventurer now, like you. I kill evil things, like you. I’m a hero, like you.’

‘Oh Kiri…’ said Jester, welling up and smiling. She threw her arms around Kiri again and hugged her.

‘Cool!’ said Beau. ‘Where’d you learn to fight like that? You’ve got some moves! Dude, his head came right off! One move. Pretty sweet!’

‘Pretty sweet. Welcome to the Mighty Nein!’

‘You learnt that from us?’

‘Learnt that from us.’

‘Huh, you always were a good mimic... You're a born figher, kid!’

‘Kiri,’ said Jester, her head buried in the soft feathers covering Kiri’s stomach, ‘ Kiri, do you want to be in the Mighty Nein again.’

‘Mighty Nein again.’

‘Yeah! You remember us, right? We remember you!’

‘Fjord,’ she said, replying to Jester with her own voice.

‘Yep, Fjord’s still with us,’ said Beau, ‘He’s catching up on some beauty sleep in our camp right now.’

‘Fjord. Oscar,’ said Kiri with what could only be described as a twinkle. Jester blushed. ‘Nott.’ She said in Caleb’s voice.

‘Yes, Kiri. Well, technically, Nott and Caleb… you remember Caleb, right?’

‘Smelly wizard,’ said Kiri using Jester’s voice once again.

‘That’s right,’ she laughed ‘although, to be fair to Caleb, he is not so smelly now. He likes swimming and now that Nott is not afraid of the water…well, they go swimming all the time and that is like a bath. Just less warm. And it doesn’t smell so good. Anyway…technically, they are not with us now because they are in jail right now. If we find the gold and the special book which they definitely didn’t steal, they will not be in prison and so they are still in the Mighty Nein.’

‘Steal her a new book,’ came Nott’s voice.

‘No, Kiri, they didn’t steal a book for me. You remember! Although now, you know, there is another book about Oscar and Guinevere. Well, it is about their son and his girlfriend. She is a tiefling…very pretty.’

‘Very pretty.’

‘Oh Gods,’ interrupted Beau, ‘I’m leaving if you’re going to start telling her about Tebor’s attempts at romance again! That boy wouldn't know actual romance if it hit him in the face!’

‘Yasha,’ came Molly’s voice suddenly from Kiri’s beak accompanied by a quizzical turn of the head. Jester’s smile faded and Beau tensed. Neither of them spoke for a second.

‘Yasha is here with us,’ said Jester slowly. Kiri tilted her head to the side, her eyes wide and puzzled. Beau’s eyes closed and her nostrils flared and violet skin, crimson blood, snow dyed red and mocking laughter filled her mind for a second. Some wounds open so easily.

‘Molly’ said Kiri, hesitantly, in Beau’s own voice echoing the irritation of some long-forgotten dispute.

Beau turned away. Jester looked at Kiri sadly. ‘Molly,’ she repeated worriedly.

Jester stepped forward and laid her hand on Kiri’s wing. ‘Molly’s not…he’s not with us any more, Kiri. He…’ she broke off.

‘Molly is not with us,’ repeated Kiri with a question in her voice, her eyes worried.

‘No, he’s not with us, don’t keep saying it’ snapped Beau turning. ‘He’s gone. He’s gone, Kiri.’ She didn’t even know why but her voice broke a little. ‘He’s gone, Kiri. He tried to save me and he’s gone. You know he said that he tries to make every place a little bit better when he leaves…that’s what we do now, Kiri. That’s what we try and do.’

Kiri’s bobbed her head from side to side slowly, sadly. She came forward and enclosed Beau in her wings. Beau didn’t like hugs. She didn’t like them at all. But the soft cocoon within Kiri’s wings was a different place, a place where the normal rules didn’t apply, and she let herself be hugged for a second before pushing away.

‘Geroff, Kiri!’ she grumped with a gentle shove. Kiri smiled down at her and winked at Jester as she let Beau go as Beau harrumphed mock-indignantly. ‘Come on, you great soft bird!’

‘Yes, Kiri, come back with us. We have a lovely camp and we have a new friend that you can meet. His name is Caduceus and he makes very good food. You will like it…well, he will make you something that you really like. He’s very good at that.’

‘Welcome to the Mighty Nein!’ said Kiri before giving Jester a mischievous side glance. It didn’t take Jester a second to catch on. ‘Mighty Nein!’ she cried and Kiri echoed it before they both descended on Beau in a sneak hug attack before they all, even Beau, ended up dancing in a laughing circle, arms around each other. Beau couldn’t wait to get back to camp and see the look on Yasha’s face…


	2. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Future fic with the Mighty Nein meeting back up with Kiri. Having already met up with Beau and Jester, she meets up with Yasha and Fjord and meets Caduceus for the first time.

As it turned out, they didn’t need to wait until they got back to camp. Before they were half way back, they heard the sound of heavy bodies charging towards them. Beau snapped into a fighting position, hands raised before her. ‘Jester, Kiri, get back!’

Kiri pulled her sword swiftly from its sheath, cocked her head at Beau with something very like a smile and faced the direction of the threat. ‘Go fuck yourself’ she whispered, pulling her crossbow off her belt with a free hand. Jester took a few steps back and began to cast her spiritual weapon. They’d hardly moved into position before something came bursting through the trees. Something tall, with black and white hair flying behind her and a great sword raised in attack.

Yasha ground to a halt, her momentum carrying her forward a few steps. ‘Beau,’ she said half-questioning, half-relieved on seeing Beau standing on the path in front of her.

‘Yasha’ came an excited cry in Jester’s voice before Kiri dropped her sword and crossbow on the floor and running forward, cast her wings ecstatically around Yasha’s waist. Yasha froze in surprise for a second, awkwardly holding her arms out to the side before she realised what exactly had just grabbed her round the middle. Her face softened, and she brought her free arm round to hug the bird to her.

‘Kiri,’ she said softly, her voice warm with happiness. Closing her eyes, a smile crossed her face. Behind her Caduceus and Fjord appeared breathing hard before taking in the scene. Fjord doubled over, clutching his knees and practically panting.

‘It is not that far, Fjord, you are getting very unfit,’ called out Jester. Fjord just glared.

Caduceus looking in a little confusion but with a smile spreading across his face at the sight of Yasha and an unknown bird hugging still, turned to Fjord and then to Jester saying, ‘Fjord ran into a tree.’

Jester giggled. ‘Oh, poor Fjord. Maybe you need glasses.’

Fjord glared now at Caduceus and straightening up said, ‘Yeah well, it was dark.’

‘But you can see in the dark, Fjord,’ Jester interrupted, her head on one side. ‘It’s Caduceus who can’t.’

‘Yeah, well, Jess, you imagine being woken up by this guy looming over you, telling you that he thought you all were being attacked… I was disorientated that’s all.’

‘Fjord,’ came Jester’s voice.

Fjord was looking right at Jester though and she hadn’t spoken. ‘What the hell?’ And he finally looked over at Yasha. Kiri had stopped hugging her but Yasha had put her sword back in its sheath and her sword hand was now firmly clasped in Kiri’s. ‘Kiri!’

‘Yes, Fjord, we found Kiri!’ cried Jester happily.

Fjord stepped forward. ‘How are you, kid?’ he asked, ruffling the feathers on her head. He had to reach a good few inches to do it and he realised half way there that he probably looked like a prize idiot.

‘You’re all grown up now, Kiri,’ she said, indignantly.

‘Yeah,’ chuckled Fjord, blushing. ‘Sorry, Kiri, you were just a little thing when I last saw you. You’ve grown up. I can’t believe you’re taller than me!’

‘I super strong, you know,’ she replied in Jester’s voice.

‘Yeah,’ interjected Beau. She’d been standing back, armed crossed leisurely across her chest, a half smile on her face at the sight of Yasha and Kiri. Now, she stepped forward and leaning over to pick up Kiri’s weapons, she held them up. ‘You should have seen her, Fjord, she’s a total badass now!’

‘Badass!’

‘Total badass, girl, don’t sell yourself short!’ said Beau smiling.

‘Total badass,’ echoed Kiri fluffing up her feathers. Yasha chuckled and Fjord and Jester couldn’t help but share a smile.

‘Yeah, but you gotta look after your weapons a bit better than this, Kiri,’ said Beau with a laugh in her voice, holding them up. ‘You can’t just go throwing them around on the ground.’ She passed the weapons over and Kiri took them importantly, placing them back on her belt.

‘Gotta look after your weapons,’ said Kiri, with a serious nod at Beau.

‘She’s so sweet!’ cried Jester, hands clasped under her chin.

‘That’s nice,’ came Caduceus’ relaxed voice. ‘Hey, I guess you guys know each other. I, uh, heard something in my sleep and thought there was a problem but seems everything’s great. It’s nice to meet old friends again.’

‘Hey Deuce, this is Kiri,’ said Beau with a casual movement of her arm between the two of them. ‘Kiri, this is Deuce.’

‘Caduceus,’ he corrected automatically. ‘Well, that’s nice. Nice to meet you, Miss Kiri. Miss Jester says your name in her sleep sometimes. I figured they really missed you.’ He stepped forward and looked at her a second. They stared at each other before Kiri, a little hesitant, put her hand up in a high five position. Caduceus stared at it. ‘Yeah, I’ve seen Beau do this,’ he said, giving Kiri’s raised hand a pat. She cocked her head to one side and looked at him in confusion. The rest of the Mighty Nein laughed.

Beau snorted, ‘You’re not doing it right, Duceus. Let us show you. Hey Kiri, give me five.’

Kiri stepped away from Yasha and head-butted Beau in the palm. ‘Five!’

Caduceus blinked in confusion. ‘Ok,’ he said. ‘So, there wasn’t anything wrong?’

‘Oh no,’ said Jester her eyebrows raised, ‘there were gnolls and they were super vicious but Kiri...’

‘Is a total badass,’ interrupted Beau’s voice from Kiri’s beak.

‘Is a total badass. She was like pew, pew, pew, pew, stab, stab, stab and she shot this one guy and then she cut the other guys head off and she’d already killed on of them.' Jester mimed shooting a cross bow and over-enthusiastically swung an invisible sword over her head. 'How did the kill the other one, Kiri?’ she asked, bouncing up and down excitedly.

‘Pew, pew, pew, pew!’ replied Kiri, both wings out like a gunslinger.

‘Cool!’ cried Jester.

‘So, you all are saying there were gnolls out here,’ asked Fjord, worry in his voice. Jester and Beau nodded, Kiri made a stabbing gesture. ‘Well, they’re usually not alone. We should move on, pack up. We still gotta catch that group of mercenaries that we think took that book. We can make up time.’

There was a general rumble of assent. ‘Ok,’ said Jester, turning to Kiri. ‘We’re going to find the mercenaries and kill them all, probably, and then we are going to take the book and then we are going to give back so that Caleb and Nott can get out of jail. Ok? It’ll be super fun.’

‘Welcome to the Mighty Nein!’ cried Kiri.

To everyone’s surprise, it was Yasha who repeated loud and clear, ‘Welcome to the Mighty Nein!’

‘Come on losers,’ said Beau, beckoning them all forward, and getting them all to put their hands in. ‘On three. One, two… Welcome to the Mighty Nein!

‘Welcome to the Mighty Nein,’ cried six voices raised together. One full of joy, one with quiet contentment, one relaxed, one determined, one aggressive, one a mix of all the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to comment


End file.
